Unlike my last PCA autocross, I actually got to the lot in plenty of time to do tech and a couple course walk-throughs this time, so that made it a lot more relaxing right off the bat. I also ran in the 2nd group this time, which I've almost never done, so I got a chance to see the other cars go through the course for a while first and see where they seemed to be having problems.
Finally at about 10:45, it was my turn to go out. It's amazing how much tighter the course is when you're driving compared to walking. The first run is always a lot of feeling out of the course, and it's always a bit of a surprise to see which parts of the course are slower and tighter than expected. My first run came in at 60.599s. The next run I attacked the course a lot harder, but that also meant coming in too hot on a lot of corners and wasting time getting the car collected and rotated rather than shooting off towards the next turn. Still, at 56.851s I was happy with the improvement.
The next three runs saw continual improvement - 56.020s, 55.534s, 55.263s - as I got a better handle on where I could really maximize speed and where I needed to get the car slowed down early to help get around tight turns quickly and back on the gas. I finished 24th overall out of 34 drivers, and given that the vast majority of those other drivers were in Porsche 911's, boxters, and caymans, I feel like that's not a bad result.
One thing I really noticed this time was how much nicer a better set of tires would be for autocross. I'm still running my normal daily run-flats for autocross and they just have so little feel at the edge of adhesion. It seems like you just have to use your butt and feel the car rotate to even tell when the car is breaking loose. I think with a more grippy set of tires, I'd be able to feel the grip and the limit through the steering wheel a lot better. That should make it a lot easier to feel what the car is doing and keep the car at the limit more consistently. Once I eventually get my garage fixed up and have space to store a spare set of wheels and tires, I'll be bumping up a set of racing tires to the top of my wish list.
This trip confirmed all the things I liked about the PCA-CHS autocross the last time out. Everyone seems really laid back. And, like last time, the course had some nice sweeping turns that really allowed you to get up some speed. The only downside of the course was that, since there were some sections where the cars passed through twice, it was hard for the course workers to run out and fix a cone and run back to their station safely. At one point during the 2nd group of racing they had to actually stop the racing to remind the workers to make sure they're paying 100% attention to where the cars are on track when they run out to fix knocked-down cones. Other than that though it was great day. The other nice thing about the PCA autocross is that the location is only about 10 minutes from home, so my wife and daughter came out again to root me on, which is always fun.
My next autocross is just a little over a month away with BMWCCA. It's my first time at FedEx field which I've heard is great for autocross, so I'm looking forward to it!
